CHAPTER THREE- DIFFICULT CHOICES

Kekui sat down first, and Shiina, Miyu, and Larva sat in a circle around her. Well, actually, Larva leaned against one of the park's street lights.

"You want to know what I am?" Kekui asked.

"more than anything right now." Miyu replied.

"I am no more than a human. A human who has been cursed for eternity. I am not much different than you, Miyu. You do not age, I do not either. You have the power to either take life or save it, and I do as well."

"So. . .you fight for the side of good?" Larva asked, just to clarify things.

"I do now. Before, though, I did not. I was born in Egypt, I'm not sure how many years ago, and killed one of the rulers of a small town. I was to face the ultimate punishment of that time, due to the. . .extent of the damage done to the man I killed, and before I was to be stoned, I was cursed. The curse was that in the afterlife, I was to be reincarnated and suffer purgatory. Until I made up for the murder by saving lives, I was to be trapped in this body. I can never be killed, however, I can be injured, and scarred."

Miyu nodded, knowing exactly how Kekui felt; she was going through nearly the same thing, as far as being trapped in the same body for eternity to save lives. Miyu had another question.

"How are you able to differentiate between demons and humans? Was that part of your curse?"

"I've always been very. . .attuned to the supernatural. Even before I was turned into a guardian of humans."

"Do you go alone on your ventures?" Larva asked

"Yes. Friends will only slow you down."

Miyu didn't look at here vampire protector, Larva, but knew that he was staring at her with a 'you see, I told you' expression on his face; she wouldn't have seen it anyway, as he had the mask on.

"I am tired now, Miyu. I will see you tomorrow in school." Kekui bid, standing and walking off.

"Kekui. . ." Larva called after her, but she didn't turn around.

"What did you need to say to her? Perhaps I can give her the message tomorrow." Miyu offered.

"No, it was nothing. I just. . .had a few more questions I would have liked to ask her. It wasn't important though. She's right, however, Miyu. Friends really do-"

"I know, we've been over this several times. I know what you're going to say."

"And yet, I feel you should hear it again. Friends will slow you down and weaken you."

Miyu sighed. "I'm going to sleep now. I will see you tomorrow evening, Larva."

Larva followed the brunette with his eyes, but said nothing.

"How come you're acting funny?" Shiina asked Larva.

"I haven't an idea what you're talking about." He replied, beginning to walk off. "Come then, Shiina."

She bounded after him.

The next day, Miyu didn't see Kekui in school, and she was growing a bit worried about her. She was still unclear of a lot of things, even her trust for Kekui was questionable. After school, Miyu went straight to Larva to see if he'd seen Kekui. As she approached the shed she knew Larva was in, she heard voices. She peered through the window, and saw Larva sitting on the floor with Kekui, and they were talking. This was interesting enough for Miyu to see, but the fact that Kekui was leaning against Larva, who was not wearing his mask, caused the girl to temporarily loose any thoughts that were in her mind at that time.

"And you are in love with Miyu, yes?"

"No, we are simply companions."

"But you gave up everything you had. Everything you were, everything you could have been. And yet you don't love her?"

"You haven't changed a bit, Kekui. Your ideas of love and happiness. You live your life in a fairy-tale world."

"It's better than this world, isn't it? Ever since you left, things have been so confusing. Do you realize that now you can never turn back? You've chosen the side of light, and now you're like me. you don't fit in, in either world. You can't be a human, because you are not human at all, you're a Shinma, and you don't fit in, in the demon worlds because you have turned against your kind."

"Yes. I know. But I just cannot turn on Miyu. She is my friend, and she is all I need now. I do not care about the power, and as for what I used to be, that is why I wear the mask."

"Yes, I was going to ask about that. But I don't understand why you must wear it. . .your face is so beautiful. You could be quite the playboy in these modern days."

"I. . .that is besides the point!!!"

Kekui giggled and Miyu squinted through the glass. She was now standing on the boxes outside the window to see what was going on. She wasn't sure how they'd known each other, but she realized now that they had somewhat of a history. . .what kind of history, was what Miyu wanted to know about.

"Why, dearest Larva, are you blushing?" Kekui poked his cheek and he turned away.

"Would you cut that out?!" he smacked her hand away.

"My, my. Aren't we defensive today?" she joked around.

Miyu growled slightly and tried to hear what was going on. She wiped at the dusty window with a sleeve so she could see better. Larva and Kekui were sitting in contentment on the floor; Kekui was in Larva's lap, which slightly angered Miyu.

'Why can he have friends when I am not supposed to? and why are they-'

her eyes widened slightly at that for two reasons. Reason number one: Kekui's face was inching closer to Larva's and Miyu had the sudden thought that she might actually try to kiss him, and Reason number two: the boxes that she was standing on gave way, and she tumbled to the ground.

Larva and Kekui were outside in a matter of seconds, and Miyu stood up, covered in cobwebs and dust. Quite an embarrassing situation, had she been human, but she was more concerned with what had gone on inside the shed.

"What aren't you telling me?!" Miyu raised her voice.

"What do you-" Kekui began, but was quickly interrupted.

"I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Larva. Now tell me what you know that I don't. How do you know Kekui? And what were the two of you discussing in there? I want answers!"

"Miyu, give me a moment to speak." Larva asked of her. There was silence, so he explained. "Kekui and I met once when we were younger. It had to have been at least a century ago. This was before she was trapped as an immortal. I was out to kill, and she was a con-artist of sorts. We worked together for quite some time, she and I."

"This was before we knew you." Shiina pointed out.

"Yes. It was. It was a long time before you knew me."

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion-type sound, and their heads all turned to the rising smoke. Kekui's eyes narrowed.

"A Shinma."

They all took off in the direction of the smoke, and when they arrived at the scene, there was a large crowd around the small office building that had exploded. Suddenly, almost as if it was a streak of black lightning, something darted past them. Miyu was about to follow it, but Kekui stuck her hand in front of her to keep her from doing so.

"This isn't a normal Shinma. You'll do better checking to make sure the humans are all alright."

"But it is my duty as the-"

"Miyu, you can't just pull out your pretty little flame and send this one back to the shadows, this isn't a normal Shinma!"

"Fine, do as you will. But the lives of these humans will now rest in your hands." Miyu informed her.

"That's fine. I know what I'm doing."

Suddenly, there was another explosion from a neighboring house. Miyu recognized it immediately. It was Chisato's house. They all ran towards the house, and the little black flash appeared in the doorway, doubling back upon seeing them standing there.

"there is a human in there, I can almost smell her." Kekui informed them "I'm pretty sure she's fairly young."

"Chisato. . ." was all Miyu said.

"She's bleeding." Kekui said, turning to Miyu. "and she will most likely die. I have to go in there to kill the Shinma. Wait out here. I'm sure I can chase it out and then we will be able to save your friend."

Kekui ran inside, just as the house began to fall. Seeing that the situation was bleak, Miyu decided it was best that she let Kekui handle things. But when she heard Chisato scream, she knew that she had to take matters into her own hands, even if it meant her own death. Larva had warned her that having friends other than he and Shiina would cause problems for her, and he was right. But she couldn't let Kekui do this alone; she had no concern for Chisato.

Upon hearing the next scream, Miyu was torn. Now two of her friends needed help. And she could only help one of them.

END CHAPTER THREE

ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF 'NEW STUDENT':

"If Larva dies, it will be your fault! You shouldn't have come here!"

"How was I supposed to know that he was here?! And it's his own fault! He should have told you about his split-soul, it's not like I caused all of this!"

The dark form loomed over them, bits of static electricity forming across it's back.

"It's going to try and finish off the rest of the good in his soul. Miyu, you have to choose now. Which path will you take? His life, or your own?"

END PREVIEW. SEE YA SOON!

Peggi-Wow. . .I actually updated! I'm so proud of me! I am so sorry it took me so long to update. I have had writer's block for this (and most of my other stories here at ) but at least this chapter was pretty long to make up for it, right? Well, please review. Reviews encourage me to update sooner.